1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a telephone and, more particularly, to a multifunctional telephone including an electronic directory.
2. Prior Art
A telephone having a display screen, a telephone keypad, and a telephone handset is known, and it sometimes is referred to as a “screen phone”. Several companies provide such a telephone. These screen phones generally look like conventional telephones except they have the display screen which typically is located above the keypad. Some screen phones have an alphanumeric keyboard.
With the advent of the modem and other network interface devices, the personal computer has evolved from a personal productivity device to a communications gateway. Presently, different communication applications for personal and workplace telephones are available as several separate devices, which the user is forced to learn. For example, a user may use one device for phone calls, a separate device for web access, and a third device for printing documents.
Each year, hundreds of millions of telephone books are reprinted for distribution to households and businesses around the world. Consequently, an enormous amount of energy and natural resources are consumed in order to revise a relatively small amount of information. A telephone device that would allow a user to store telephone numbers or allow internet access to look up a number would be advantageous in cutting back on production of often seldom used phonebooks.
In the prior art, discount coupons may be distributed using direct mailing techniques, printed in newspapers, magazines, or the like, distributed with other commercial goods. Such techniques require massive amounts of printing and distribution, and historically have a low response rate. Thus, such mass-distribution techniques may not be cost effective, and are not environmentally friendly, due to the large amount of paper wasted. A multifunctional device that would be able to print these coupons would, again, be advantageous to the environment by cutting back on production of paper products.
Accordingly, a continuing need remains for a multifunctional telephone including an electronic directory.